Unseen beauty

After the tidal wave surged inland, the great blue whale found itself impossibly stranded in the branches of an ancient redwood. Its immense body creaked against the bark, skin drying beneath the alien sky. Birds circled, confused. The ocean's song had faded. As breath grew shallow and eyes dimmed, the whale saw—beyond the distant peaks—the sun bleeding gold and crimson across the sky. The mountains, once unknown, glowed with warmth the sea had never sung of. In that final, aching moment, the whale thought: I never knew such beauty existed. And with that thought, it died—cradled not by waves, but by the arms of the earth.